A review by gargamela
The Bolds' Christmas Cracker by David Roberts, Julian Clary

2.0

I understand that this is supposed to be silly since it is a book about animals trying to live like humans, but the premise and the plot were so dumb that I could not enjoy it one bit. Why would a pack of wild hyenas suddenly decide that it is better to live in a world where they have to constantly fear being discovered by humans? We never learn. What are the chances that their neighbor is also an animal masquerading as a grumpy old man? According to the book, very good. The only nice thing about the book was the insertion of jokes made by the dad, jokes that would probably entertain a young reader. Otherwise, there is no actual plot, these hyenas live there and, at one point, rescue an old hyena from the zoo. Well, good for them, but I will probably forget about them by the time I finish writing this review. There was some missed opportunities to explore a bit further the idea of having to conform to rules that ask you to behave against your nature and the treatment of animals in zoos and reservations, but this was beyond the authors intent, clearly.